The 1995–96 Southampton F.C. season was the club's 95th season of competitive football, their 26th in the top flight of English football, and their fourth in the FA Premier League. It was the sole season to feature Dave Merrington as the club's manager, who took over from Alan Ball in the summer of 1995. After finishing 10th in 1994–95, their highest league position in five years, the Saints had a disappointing season as they finished 17th in the FA Premier League, avoiding relegation on goal difference only (with Ball's Manchester City side going down in their place). Outside the league, the club reached the sixth round of the FA Cup and the fourth round of the League Cup – the first time they had reached either stage since the 1991–92 season.
Southampton had a quiet transfer period ahead of the 1995–96 campaign, with Newcastle United full-back Alan Neilson their only first-team signing of the summer. Later in the season, Merrington signed right-back Barry Venison, goalkeeper Neil Moss and winger Mark Walters, as well as selling midfielder Paul Allen, centre-back Peter Whiston, winger Paul McDonald and striker Craig Maskell for small fees. The side played poorly throughout the season, picking up just nine wins in the league – their lowest tally in over 25 years – and scoring just 34 goals, the lowest in their 101-year league history. Southampton ultimately avoided relegation only on the basis of goal difference, with Manchester City's final day loss against Liverpool determining their relegation.
Outside the league, Southampton reached the sixth round of the FA Cup by defeating three sides in lower divisions: they beat local rivals Portsmouth of the First Division, made it past Second Division side Crewe Alexandra after a replay, and eliminated Swindon Town of the same division in the same manner. In their final game of the tournament, the Saints were eliminated by Manchester United, who went on to win the FA Premier League and FA Cup double. In the League Cup, Southampton beat Second Division strugglers Cardiff City and league rivals West Ham United, before facing elimination at the hands of First Division club Reading. This marked Southampton's best performance in both cups since 1991–92, when they reached the same stages.
Southampton used 25 players during the 1995–96 season and had 14 different goalscorers. In a low-scoring season, striker Neil Shipperley finished as the club's top goalscorer with just 12 goals in all competitions, including a joint-high (with Matt Le Tissier) seven in the league. Shipperley also made the most appearances for the club during the campaign, featuring in all but one league game across all competitions. Goalkeeper Dave Beasant won the Southampton F.C. Player of the Season award for 1995–96. The average league attendance at The Dell in 1995–96 was 14,822 – a slight increase on the previous season. The highest attendance was 15,262 against Manchester United in April; the lowest was 11,059 against West Ham United in October.
Background and transfers
Prior to leaving the club, manager Alan Ball made one signing for Southampton during the summer 1995 transfer window, bringing in full-back Alan Neilson from Newcastle United for £500,000. Ball's replacement Dave Merrington did not sign anyone else until October, when he paid £850,000 for right-back Barry Venison from Turkish club Galatasaray. The same month, midfielder Paul Allen was released on a free transfer to Second Division side Swindon Town and centre-back Peter Whiston – signed by Ball just over a year earlier – was sold to Shrewsbury Town (also of the third flight) for £50,000. The last transfer of the calendar year saw 20-year-old goalkeeper Neil Moss arrive from local Second Division club Bournemouth just before Christmas – the Saints paid £200,000 for the player, which rose to £250,000 based on appearances.
In the new year, Southampton signed winger Mark Walters from Liverpool on a free transfer. In February, Scottish winger Paul McDonald – who had spent most of the season on loan at Burnley – was sold to another Second Division side, Brighton & Hove Albion (who were then managed by former Saints midfielder Jimmy Case), for a fee of £40,000 rising to £75,000 based on appearances. Craig Maskell also moved to Case's Seagulls for £40,000 a few weeks later, following a two-month loan spell at Bristol City. Later in March a third player, Scottish defender Derek Allan, moved to Brighton on loan for the rest of the season – he would join permanently at the beginning of the next season.
Players transferred in NameNationalityClubDateFeeRef.Alan Neilson Newcastle United1 June 1995£500,000Phil Warnernone (free agent)July 1995FreeBarry Venison Galatasaray25 October 1995£850,000Neil Moss Bournemouth20 December 1995£200,000+Mark Walters Liverpool18 January 1996Free
Players transferred out NameNationalityClubDateFeeRef.Paul Allen Swindon Town11 October 1995FreePeter Whiston Shrewsbury Town20 October 1995£50,000Paul McDonald Brighton & Hove Albion16 February 1996£40,000+Craig Maskell Brighton & Hove Albion1 March 1996£40,000
Players loaned out NameNationalityClubDate fromDate toRef.Paul McDonald Burnley15 September 199516 February 1996Craig Maskell Bristol City28 December 19951 March 1996Derek Allan Brighton & Hove Albion28 March 1996End of season
Notes
Pre-season friendlies Ahead of the 1995–96 campaign, Southampton played nine pre-season friendlies. In July, they embarked on a short tour of Ireland which included three games against local opposition – a 1–2 defeat at St Patrick's Athletic (who went on to become champions of the Irish Premier Division), a 4–2 win over Irish First Division side Waterford United, and a 0–1 loss at Cork City. Back in England, they lost 1–2 at Second Division side Wycombe Wanderers and 0–3 at First Division side Millwall, before travelling over to the Netherlands where they drew 1–1 with Sparta Rotterdam and 2–2 with Volendam, both of the Eredivisie. Whilst in the Netherlands, the Saints concluded their pre-season preparations by taking part in the Paling Cup, a friendly tournament consisting of 45-minute games – they drew 0–0 with IJsselmeervogels before beating Spakenburg 3–1.
FA Premier League
Southampton opened their 1995–96 FA Premier League season at home to Nottingham Forest, who had finished third in the league the previous year. The end-to-end game finished 4–3 in favour of the visitors, with all three goals for the hosts scored by Matt Le Tissier – two from penalties given for fouls against him, one in the last ten minutes from a free kick. After a 0–2 loss at Everton the next week, the Saints picked up their first points of the season in two home games against last season's fifth and sixth place finishers, drawing 1–1 with Leeds United and beating Newcastle United 1–0 thanks to a second-half goal from Jim Magilton. They subsequently dropped into the relegation zone for the first time after three poor away results in a row: a goalless draw at recently-promoted Middlesbrough, a 0–3 defeat at Chelsea and a 2–4 loss at Arsenal. They stayed there into October with another goalless draw, this time at home to West Ham United, followed by another two defeats: 1–2 at reigning league champions Blackburn Rovers and 1–3 at home to fellow title challengers Liverpool. During the latter game, Le Tissier received the second of two career red cards when he was dismissed for "ungentlemanly conduct", following fouls on Ian Rush and Phil Babb.
After spending a few weeks in the bottom three of the table, the Saints picked up two crucial victories when they beat Wimbledon 2–1 (thanks to a Neil Shipperley double) and Queens Park Rangers 2–0, with both games featuring dismissals for the opposition. The improvement in form was short-lived, however, as two more defeats against top-tier opponents followed – first, the South Coast side lost 1–4 at Manchester United, who went 3–0 up within the first nine minutes; and two days later, they lost 0–1 at home to Aston Villa. A 1–0 win over fellow strugglers Bolton Wanderers and two more draws against Liverpool and ten-man Arsenal ensured the team stayed clear of the relegation places.
Southampton did not win again until 20 January 1996, when they overturned a 0–1 deficit to beat Middlesbrough 2–1 at The Dell. After another pair of draws against Manchester City and Everton, though, the Saints faced four consecutive defeats which saw them drop back into the bottom three. The run included a marginal 2–3 defeat at home to Chelsea in which they "dominate[d] large chunks of the game", followed by a 0–1 loss at Tottenham Hotspur, a 1–2 defeat at Manchester City in which they saw a goal disallowed in injury time, and a 0–1 loss hosting Sheffield Wednesday, who scored the only goal of the game within the first minute. They moved up to 17th in the table with a 1–0 win over Coventry City, before losing again at Queens Park Rangers, who were also fighting against the threat of relegation, and mid-table side Leeds United.
The beginning of April saw Southampton pick up an unlikely 1–0 win over defending league champions Blackburn Rovers, thanks to an 80th-minute Le Tissier penalty. Another loss against Aston Villa was followed by another upset as the Saints beat league leaders (and eventual champions) Manchester United 3–1 at home, scoring all three of their goals in the first half (including Le Tissier's first in open play since the beginning of the season). This game became infamous after United changed from their regular grey away strip to their blue-and-white third kit at half time, claiming that the players were struggling to see one another on the field. Two weeks later, Southampton beat Bolton Wanderers 1–0 at Burnden Park to confirm the hosts' relegation, before confirming their own safety a week later with a goalless draw against Wimbledon – Manchester City, managed by previous Saints boss Alan Ball – went down in 18th place on goal difference behind Southampton and Coventry City, after failing to secure a win against final opponents Liverpool.
List of match results
Final league table
Results by matchday
FA Cup
Southampton entered the 1995–96 FA Cup in the third round against local rivals Portsmouth – the first FA Cup meeting between the two sides since 1984, and the first at The Dell since 1906. The top-flight hosts dominated the early exchanges against their First Division opponents and opened the scoring in the 12th minute, when Jim Magilton "bundled the ball in" after Pompey goalkeeper Alan Knight had saved a header by Neil Heaney from a Gordon Watson cross. The Saints came close to making it 2–0 later in the first half, eventually doubling their lead within 50 seconds of the restart when Matt Le Tissier "ran half the length of the pitch" but saw his shot saved by Knight, before Magilton replicated his first goal with another close-range finish. Magilton almost completed a hat-trick a few minutes later, but it took until the last ten minutes for Southampton to score a third, when Neil Shipperley converted a "straightforward chance" created by Le Tissier, completing a 3–0 win described by club historians as "one-sided".